As observed from a desk on the second floor of the second last building on the perimeters of a megapolis

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Tuesday, May 27, 2014

When I Read More - Before the Game of Thrones

The Game
of Thrones has ruined my reading habit. Or perhaps it’s that crawling baby who tries to electrocute itself relentlessly. Or is it because I have to get my fix of happy-shappy endorphins exactly
between 9PM to 10.30 four times a week?!

No…waaaitaminute.

I no longer commute. I work from home.

Yup,
that’s it. I miss my local train 45-minute commute where I unfortunately never
encountered smelly armpits or a poke in the geezer. Towering over most of the
crowd, adroitly wriggling my way right in and never asking folk where
they got off has always stood me in good stead when I um..stood.So when
half of Mumbai’s resolute ladies preferred hanging out of the door and getting
electrocuted (but in a more gorier way than aforesaid baby) I plowed my way
through book after book of uninterrupted bliss. With nary a peddler, beggar,
lady or the kind that belies being a lady vying for my attention. And before an
amazingly persistent and incredibly noisy baby began eying my Kindle.

Do I
regret having baby 2 in my late 30’s? Hell no. Sure, priorities change yada
yada. But if I can get swimming, jogging and work in, I can get reading in too
but that would probably mean booting out ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 3. Oh
hell..and just when I was carefully watching each episode to figure out who is hotter -Rob Starke or Jon Snow.

SO
WHAT WAS I READING OVER THE LAST 4 MONTHS?

And there was a time when I was averaging one book in 4 days when Miss V was
still nursing..sigh.Americanah
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Of course I bloody googled that) . Interesting
but them Nigerians are too much like us Indians. My first Chimwhatever. Sure, she
is lovely but not evocative enough to get my attention. She is factual and does
tend to ramble on but in a nice way. She reminded me of Manju Kapur though I am
not sure why. Is it that whole diaspora, “I have mysteriously migrated to the
US with no money to my name, but I will stick to my roots and learn to be an
American but I will detest it and continue eating Nigerian food and calling it
American names” Ummm… yeah…Probably.

Hindus – Banned, boring and disjointed. Unfortunately I am not a very serious minded reader so I
gave it short-shrift. And there, I reveal I am not the intellectual I purport
to be.The Slap
– Christos Tsiolkas (No surprises, I
googled that spelling too). Horrendously convoluted, I detested it. Practically
every other adult in the book deserved a resounding smack. Life-changing, I
should think not. And that darned smack to a bratty kid hardly made a ripple
for the subsequent events were not related persay. I ploughed through it
because it was a library book and I kept thinking I will come across something
brilliant in keeping with all those shining reviews. Well, a bit of hope always
keeps me going.

WHAT IS ON TOP OF MY READING LIST?Goldfinch
– Donna Tartt. I adored ‘My Little Friend’ so I look forward to this, as and
when I tear myself away from sport and that ruddy series.